1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to browsing electronic content. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods, systems, and computer program products for browsing content that includes interactive elements using a computerized system with a display area and input system that may be somewhat limited in comparison to the pointing devices and displays typically found in more traditional browsing systems.
2. Background and Related Art
Content typically includes interactive elements, such as links and form controls. Activating or following a link causes the content that is associated with the link to be requested and displayed. Selecting a form control allows for interaction with the form control. Traditional browsing systems generally include a keyboard and a pointing device such as a mouse, for activating links and interacting with form controls. Tab order navigation is possible, but may not follow an order expected by the user, especially if scrolling is required to view all of the content.
In traditional browsing systems, a user activates a link or selects a form control by simply placing a mouse pointer over the interactive element and pressing a mouse button. With each mouse press, a user may follow a link, select a text field so that text may be entered from a keyboard, toggle a radio button or checkbox, choose one or more items from a list, or cause the action associated with a button to be executed. The mouse also is used in scrolling the display area, as necessary. Nevertheless, content often is authored to minimize scrolling the display of traditional browsing systems, particularly in the horizontal direction.
Browsing systems with limited input systems and display areas, however, such as a phone having a numeric keypad, a directional control, and an action key, may make it difficult to select and interact with content designed for more traditional browsing systems that make use of pointing devices and have larger display areas. For example, without a pointing device, how are links activated and how are form controls selected? The direction control is a natural choice for scrolling because this operation is similar to many traditional browsing systems. (When no interactive element is selected, arrow keys usually are used for scrolling.) But, without a mouse, selecting individual interactive elements presents a significant challenge.
Tab order navigation does not provide an adequate solution because tab order generally follows the order of interactive elements in the content as authored or written, rather than the order of interactive elements in the content as displayed. Thus, in some situations, tab order moves horizontally, and in other situations, tab order moves vertically. For example, content that includes a table often will have a vertical tab order within individual table cells, but a horizontal tab order from cell to cell. Content outside of a table usually has a horizontal tab order. Because users generally are unaware of whether content includes a table or not, tab order may appear completely arbitrary, moving horizontally one time and vertically the next.
Therefore, when browsing content that includes interactive elements, methods, systems, and computer program products are needed for computerized systems that may have limited display areas and input systems, as compared to the pointing devices and displays typically found in more traditional browsing systems. Furthermore, certain interactive elements may be more intuitive in a browsing context, if those interactive elements operate somewhat differently from how they might function in an operating system shell environment.
The present invention provides a navigation mode and an edit mode for browsing content with a computerized system that may include a somewhat limited display area and/or input system. Navigation mode generally includes movement between and selection of interactive elements, whereas the edit mode generally includes interaction with a single interactive element. In navigation mode, pressing a direction key selects the next interactive element in the direction indicated by the direction key (e.g., up, down, left, right). When moving horizontally, an interactive element is in the direction indicated by the direction control if the interactive element is at substantially the same vertical level. For example, if a later element overlaps a previous element on a given vertical level by any amount, the two elements are considered to be at substantially the same vertical level. Vertical movement is to an interactive element at the next vertical level in the direction indicated by the direction control. If multiple interactive elements lie at the next vertical level, the one closest in the horizontal direction to the beginning of the current interactive element is selected.
To indicate selection, an interactive element is highlighted, such as by placing a selection box around the element. The interactive element remains selected until it is no longer visible (i.e., it has scrolled off the display area) or the next interactive element becomes at least partially visible and is selected. If no interactive element is at least partially visible in the direction indicated or if a selected interactive element is only partially visible, the display scrolls in the direction indicated by the direction control.
Switching from navigation mode to edit mode may be accomplished in several ways. For example, once an interactive element allowing character entry is selected, typing a character on the keypad automatically switches from navigation mode to edit mode. Similar to a mouse click, pressing the action button after an interactive element has been selected also switches to edit mode. Where interactive elements only require a mouse click to function in traditional browsing systems, such as links, checkboxes, radio buttons, other buttons, and the like, pressing action uses the selected control (i.e., follows the link, checks or unchecks a checkbox, chooses a radio button, performs the action associated with the button, etc.) rather than switching to edit mode. In edit mode, pressing the action button switches back to navigation mode. If a particular direction key is not allowed in edit mode, pressing the direction key also will exit edit mode. For forms that do not include a submit button on the form, pressing the action key will submit the form, rather than switching to navigation mode.
Certain interactive elements may be limited to the width of the display area that is available for displaying content so that the entire element can be visible at one time. Therefore, the width of an interactive element that exceeds the width of available display area may be adjusted to be less than or equal to the width of available display area. If a selected interactive element is only partially visible, switching into edit mode scrolls the control into full view.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.